


three times a lady

by smallredboy



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Family Dinners, Kissing, Marriage Proposal, Nonbinary Peggy Schuyler, Trans Eliza Schuyler, Trans Marquis de Lafayette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 20:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12896571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: Eliza goes to a family dinner with her long time girlfriend, Maria. Lots of things happen the week beforehand and the day itself.





	three times a lady

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! so i took a while writing this fic but i just really wanted some marliza and trans eliza struck a chord with me, so this happened 
> 
> enjoy!

Eliza misses when she wasn't out sometimes. Back then no one would sneer at her, back then no one would mind if she spoke a little higher than most men. Now her life was people staring at her, seeing the obvious bulge in her jeans and know who she is. Elizabeth Schuyler— although she wasn't born with that name. She chose it herself, and her father hadn't been too happy about changing to something without any similarity to the one he'd given her.

Eliza opens the door to her dorm and sees her girlfriend, Maria, playing on her Nintendo DS. Probably Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, she muses as she closes the door and puts her backpack on the floor. "Hey," she says. She hasn't trained her voice to be higher, to be like a woman's, but it's still in the range of 'not obviously trans'.

Maria looks up from her game with a smile. She gives her a quick peck on the lips, smearing lipstick into Eliza's. "Hey. How was work?"

"Customers kept staring at me weird," she says before shrugging. Her nose is turned up at the mere thought of today's shift; she'd tried to make herself sound more feminine, but it didn't work very well. They could tell she was trying too hard, and she loathed it. "Like, I get it, my voice isn't ultra feminine."

"I think your voice is feminine," Maria replies, kissing her cheek. Her curls fall down past her shoulders, her figure so much feminine than Eliza's. Estrogen has made her body fat distributed more womanly, but she still has broad shoulders and a tiny waist. It's no good for her self-esteem. "Eliza?"

"Uh? Yeah, sorry," she ducks her head. "I spaced out." She licks her lips and threads her fingers through her long black hair. It's one of the few things she likes about her body; it goes down to the middle of her back and it shapes her face nicely. "I love you."

"I love you too," Maria replies. "Alex's been checking you out, y'know."

"Who?"

"That law student who always hangs out with John. I've seen him stare at you around campus."

Eliza laughs. Alexander Hamilton is quite a man— he's got shoulder-length brown locks and witty dark eyes. She thought he was gay, in all honesty. "Oh, him? That's great."

Maria kisses her again, a soft touch into her jaw. It's got a little bit of stubble in it, which she should shave soon, but Maria doesn't mind. Maria has never minded how she's unapologetically trans— she touches her stubble, sings with her, kisses her as if she was like all the other girls she's dated before. She's never brought up if this changes her lesbian identity, which Eliza is thankful for.

"You're lovely, you know that?" Maria says, grinning wide and toothy. It should be illegal for someone to look that beautiful, Eliza believes. Her red shirt tucked beneath her leather jacket makes her look a lot more badass than she actually is. "The most beautiful girl I've ever dated."

"Maria..." she whispers, kissing her forehead. "You're stunning."

She chuckles, kissing her temple. They're snuggled close together in Eliza's bed, hands clasped together and soft giggles leaving them every few seconds. "You deserve the world, babe. You deserve so much more than what you get."

"Thank you," she replies, her hand going through Maria's curls. "I miss not confusing people sometimes. I was just a guy, y'know? Not a crossdresser or a trap or..." she doesn't say the T slur. She hates it, she's had it screamed at her too many times.

"But at least some people respect your identity now," Maria says. She kisses her lips and her cheek once, twice. Her touch is soft, languid like she's taking all the time in the world in loving her girlfriend. It makes Eliza's stomach full of butterflies.

"Yeah. I should call Angie, I haven't in a while."

Maria nods. She takes her phone in her hands and calls Angelica's number. Her sister has been wildly supportive of her ever since she came out when she was seventeen. She and Peggy changed their title of _the Schuyler siblings_ to _the Schuyler sisters_ in the blink of an eye. Eliza still is giddy at the mere thought of those days back in high school.

"Hey, Lizzy!" Angelica's voice is soft and welcoming, homey. "How have you been?"

Eliza shrugs. "College's fine. I have an appointment to see how my estrogen levels are doing in two weeks."

"That's nice!" Angelica says. "Peggy caught a cold."

"Oh man." Her younger sister has always been prone to getting sick. "I hope she gets better soon. Have you got a girlfriend yet?"

She can almost hear the blush on Angelica's face when she replies, "I've been seeing a girl. Her name's Martha. She's bi and oh my God, she's beautiful."

"Show me a photo of her when you can," Eliza says. "I hope you can date her! I assume you two have been flirting and nothing more?"

"Pretty much." Angelica laughs. "How's Maria, though? Her Art major going fine?"

"Yeah." Eliza walks out towards their kitchen, so Maria can't hear her talk. "I've been planning to propose, too."

"Really?" Angelica cries in delight. "Aw, I hope you do soon! Have you bought a ring yet? I can send you some money so you can get the best one there is!"

Eliza's face flushes red. "Angie, please... I don't want to come off as too rich, so I'll probably just buy one that isn't too expensive."

"Maria knows you're the daughter of Philip Schuyler, it won't hurt anyone." Angelica can barely suppress her enthusiasm, and Eliza loves how much she's into her romantic life. Angelica has always been the forever-single type of girl, even if she's twenty-six now and their father wants a grandchild by now. It doesn't matter because Angelica is more into girls than anyone Eliza knows.

"Well..." she sighs. "I'll buy it soon-ish, I guess. Kiss Martha for me."

"Trust me, I will!" Angelica says; Eliza can see the grin plastered on her face. "See you on the weekend, Lizzy."

Oh, she had almost forgotten they were going back to Albany that weekend. "See ya, Angie." She cuts the call and turns to the living room. Maria is looking at her with a raised eyebrow. If she heard, she doesn't say anything.

"So, how's Angie? Are you bringing me with you on the weekend?"

"I had almost forgotten I'm going back to Albany." She kisses her cheek. "You're definitely coming along."

"Great!" Maria's lips meet hers.

"Well, tomorrow's Friday. Better start packing our bags for Saturday," Eliza says, kissing her again. She glances up to her curls and her bright brown eyes and God, she's in love.

The next day is spent at work and at some classes before she comes back to their dorm. Eliza is quick to take a change of clothes and put it in Maria's bag, which already has Maria's own change. Her girlfriend should be home in around an hour or so, as she's got classes late on Friday.

She puts their underwear there and ten minutes later Maria opens the door to their dorm. "Baby, I'm home!" she exclaims, to then see her and hurry her step towards her. "Hey," she murmurs.

"Hey," Eliza replies, kissing her temple. "I was packing the last few things."

"Did you put the toothbrushes?"

Eliza gasps. "I forgot."

Maria is quick on her feet, hurrying towards their bathroom and taking their hygiene appliances from it. They put it all in a bag and Eliza puts it over her shoulder. "Okay, do you have our bus tickets?"

Eliza shoves her hand on her pocket and finds it; she bought them three days ago. It's a bus straight to Albany, and she's thankful for public transport right now. "Here it is," she says, showing it to her girlfriend.

The next two hours happen in a blur— next thing Eliza knows, she's in the bus, pressed together to her girlfriend. She's still not over the fact she's dating the most beautiful girl in the world, their fingers intertwined as the bus starts up.

Maria falls asleep on her shoulder and Eliza watches the scenery change as the bus runs through New York City to Albany. She runs her fingers through Maria's curls; she has a thousand dollar smile on her face. When they met they were just two nineteen-year-olds enrolled into Columbia, and it's been three years since then. A lot has changed, especially with her appearance— she's become a lot more feminine after two years of hormone replacement therapy.

"We're here," she says after three hours, shifting on her seat and prodding at Maria's shoulder. She slowly opens her brown eyes, looking at her with a smile. "Babe?"

"Mhm." She gets up and takes their bag from the floor. "Let's go."

They walk out of the bus and, after a short discussion on whether they should go directly to the Schuyler residence or not, they take a taxi. Eliza says the address; the driver starts the vehicle. Eliza and Maria keep holding hands and talking about nothing in particular, although they can see the driver's turned up nose through the windshield mirror.

When they're in front of the Schuyler residence, Eliza pays up and gets out with Maria at her side. "I could almost hear him yelling lesbophobic shit at us," is the first thing Maria says when they're out of the taxi. Eliza chuckles and kisses her forehead. The house is huge, almost like a mansion; Eliza knows every nook of the house, a map laid out in her mind.

"Lizzy!"

Eliza whips her head around and sees Angelica, her arm hooked around a woman's elbow. She's younger-faced, her sun-kissed skin being covered by locks flowing against the wind. "Angie!" she exclaims, hugging her tight.

"I decided to bring Martha along," she says. She turns to Martha and adds, "This is my sister, Eliza!"

"Oh, hi!" she waves and hugs Eliza.

"Hey. This is my girlfriend," she tells her as she puts her arm around Maria's shoulder.

Martha's jaw hangs open. "Woah, your sister's a lesbian too?"

"I'm a pan trans woman, more precisely," she says. Martha looks at her and raises her eyebrows, about to say something, but she doesn't. She just nods and smiles.

"You pass really well," Martha says after a while of awkward silence. "I wouldn't have guessed."

Eliza grins. "Thank you. Let's go inside, yeah?"

Angelica nods and puts her arm around Eliza's shoulder, making her face flush pink. "Did Peggy bring anyone?" Eliza asks when they enter their house. The living room is huge, the TV and their sofa comfortable for all three sisters and their significant others.

"She brought this French boy with her." Angelica shrugs and walks around the living room, her gaze shifting. "He's in the same college classes as her. His name is long."

"That'd be me," someone interrupts. Eliza turns around to see a baby-faced man. He's got curls wrapped tightly in a bun, his eyes deep, rich brown. "I'm Gilbert. You can call me Laf, too. It's a pleasure."

"You're dating Peggy?" Eliza mutters.

He shakes his head. "We're friends. She wanted me to meet you all."

Eliza smiles and pats his back. He's quite short, too; she'd say around Peggy's height. And Peggy is _short_ , at around five foot five. "How old are you, kid?"

"I'm not..." Gilbert's face flushes pink. "I look like a fourteen year old, I know. I'm twenty." He turns and looks up at Eliza. "You're Eliza, right?"

"Mhm."

"I'm Angelica. It's a pleasure, Gilbert," she interrupts, shoving her hand in front of him. They shake hands and Eliza notes how small Gilbert's are. Angelica turns and exclaims, "Dad!" before hugging the man. He has a fair complexion, eyes small and straight hair.

"Hey," he says, hugging his oldest daughter. "How have you been, Angie?"

"I've been fine. Martha, come here!" the woman comes up and shakes hands with their dad. "She's my girlfriend."

Martha smiles nervously. "Hello, Mr. Schuyler."

"Just call me Philip, Martha." He turns to Angelica and grins. "I'm glad you found someone, Angie." He shifts. "We should go, dinner is ready."

As they sit around the dining table, Peggy finally gets out of her bedroom and sits next to her friend. "Peggy!" Eliza exclaims.

Peggy grins wide. "Hi! Oh, I missed you, Liza! You look so different!" she jumps on her seat and smiles. "Hey, Maria. Oh, Angie, that's your girlfriend Martha?" Angelica nods from the other side of the table, putting an arm around her and kissing her cheek. "You're so cute, Martha."

"Thank you!" she says, blushing.

Peggy sits down next to her friend as Philip puts the plates around the table.

"So, how has everything been?" Philip asks as he sits down, Peggy already munching on the beef.

"It's been fine. I have a check with my doctor for my estrogen levels next Wednesday."

"Nice," Peggy nods between mouthfuls of food. Gilbert has a raised eyebrow, looking almost creepily interested in what Eliza said.

"No offense but," Gilbert starts, "you're trans?"

Part of her freaks out, but she manages to not express it openly. "Yeah."

"That's cool!" Gilbert's eyes shine. "I've only ever met other trans men, so I was a bit surprised."

 _Oh, he's trans too_. Relief washes over her, and she lets herself smile. Angelica and Peggy are eating in silence, Maria blushing slightly as she downs a bit of water.

"We'll go together to the hormone thing, right?" Maria asks.

Eliza puts her fingers on her hair, her curls beautiful and long. "Of course, baby," she says. She kisses her forehead, loving how Maria purrs near her, her smile blinding white.

"Are you on T, Gilbert?" Angelica asks before she takes a bite of her food.

"I'm not and I don't want to be." He circles his food with his fork. "I've had top surgery but the cons of T are bigger than the pros, in my opinion."

Eliza nods but doesn't say a thing, considering mentioning the cons of estrogen would make it _very_ awkward. It's a family dinner and she can't just mention she can't get it up anymore. "Yeah, I've been on estrogen for... almost two years now, I think?"

"Isn't the anniversary next month?" Philip interrupts. Eliza shrugs. "How do you not remember? You were the happiest I've ever seen you, Betsey."

Eliza flushes pink. "I know it was during October but the exact date was a blur." She was the happiest she's ever been, though. It was the beginning of her transition, and she was ecstatic although she knew the effects would take long to show up.

"October thirteenth," Maria supplies.

Eliza hmms. "Sounds about right," she says before kissing her again. She takes a sip of water and keeps eating.

"Also," Peggy starts, fiddling with her hands. She's nibbling her lip, and Eliza hasn't seen her this nervous before. "I, uh, think I'm nonbinary?"

"Pegs!" is Eliza's immediate reaction, getting up and then sitting back down. "Hell, uh, are you still okay with your name? Do you wanna change pronouns?"

Peggy gulps and drums their fingers against the table. "I'd prefer they them."

"Alright!" Angelica nods, smile bright.

Philip frowns. "What's... nonbinary?" he says the word slowly, as if savoring it.

Peggy breathes. "It's, uhm, not identifying as a man or a woman."

"How does that work?" Philip asks, raising an eyebrow. He's interested rather than disgusted or skeptical, and Eliza is glad.

"Well, basically..." Eliza starts, backing up her sibling, "Gender is a spectrum. It's not a binary thing. It's common for there to be third genders in non-Western cultures. So here, you're out of the binary imposed to us." She nibbles on her lip, hoping her dad doesn't find it ludicrous.

"I understand," Philip says after a while. "Isn't they plural, though?"

"It's also used for people you don't know the gender of," Gilbert chimes in. Philip nods, and Angelica goes back to chitchatting with her girlfriend.

"Do you think we could get a puppy?" Martha says, putting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Martha... we aren't even living together yet." Angelica takes a sip of her Coke Light.

Martha argues, "But when we are!"

Eliza awws and kisses Maria. "Should we get a puppy?"

"I like cats better, Lizzy," Maria replies, smiling.

Eliza pouts but nods. "Then we can get a cat."

Gilbert starts to shift in his seat. Peggy notices and pats his back. "Are you alright, Gil?" they ask, looking at him with concern in their eyes. Their hair is pulled into a tight ponytail, and their brown eyes shine.

"Uh, yeah, just sorta feel out of place."

Angelica smiles at him while she cleans her plate. "Gilbert, if Pegs brought you here sh— _they_ consider you part of the Schuylers."

Gilbert nods and eats a bit more. "I'm satisfied," he says before pushing the chair away from the table. "Can I get up?"

"Go for it," Philip says. Gilbert smiles and gets up, sitting at the huge sofa they have near the dining table. "Angie, how have your studies been?"

"I've been doing well! I'm getting my doctorate soon." Martha hugs her, pride clear in her ocean green eyes.

"That's my daughter!" Philip exclaims, grinning.

"I'm going to sit with Gilbert," Eliza tells him, getting up and taking Maria with her. They sit next to one another, Gilbert at her left and Maria at her right.

Eliza is happy with her family; she loves Peggy, her nonbinary sibling, and Angelica, her bi sister. She could give them the whole world.

"Maria, can we go to the garden real quick?"

Maria nods and they walk outside. It's full of roses and small flowers she doesn't know the name of; bushes and trees too. Philip has taken good care of the garden ever since his wife died.

"I love you," Eliza tells her, kissing her. Maria caresses her cheek, her stubble against her fingertips. "You're so gorgeous, Maria, and I just think..." she goes silent, fidgeting her hand in her pocket.

"What do you think, baby?" Maria asks, her hand going to her jaw, caressing ever so slowly.

"I think that I want to stay with you forever," she starts, taking the ring out of her pocket. She goes down on one knee, showing her the ring. "Do you think so too, Maria?"

Maria stares for a good few seconds, and then her eyes well up with tears. Putting her hands on her face, she squeals. "O-Of course, Eliza! Of course I'll marry you!" she exclaims, taking the ring in her hand and putting it in her finger. It fits.

"I got it!" Angelica exclaims suddenly, and Eliza turns around to see her with her phone on her hand. "Got it on camera! I'll print it!"

"Oh my _God_ , Angie," Eliza hisses, "you're incredible."

"You love me."

Eliza rolls her eyes and hugs her. "Of course I do."

"Also, Liza?" Maria starts, and Eliza turns around to see her. "I heard you talk to Angie about proposing to me a week ago."

" _Huh_?" Eliza yells, her face flushing pink.

Angelica laughs heartily, and Maria kisses her fervently.


End file.
